Violent Video Games Can Stunt Moral Judgment

Violent Video Games Can Stunt Moral Judgment

Spending too much time playing violent video games can delay a teen gamer's ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, a new Canadian study says.

Researchers at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., quizzed a group of eighth graders about their playing habits and also determined their stage of moral reasoning on a scale of one to four.

Researcher Mirjana Bajovic found those who played violent video games for three hours or longer each day were detached from the outside world.

"Spending too much time within the virtual world of violence may prevent (gamers) from getting involved in different positive social experiences in real life, and in developing a positive sense of what is right and wrong," Bajovic said in a press release.

But her study also found there was no correlation between the amount of time adolescents reported playing non-violent video games and their sociomoral reasoning levels.